So Where Shall I Put You?
by flowerinthedistance
Summary: "So try me on and I will tell you / Where you ought to be." - The Sorting Hat, Philosopher's Stone. The Sorting Ceremony marks the beginning of life at Hogwarts, but most of these beginnings have never been heard. An insight into the Sortings of other first-years. 100-word drabble. [Currently: [11] Dunbar, Fay]
1. Abbott, Hannah

**A/N: So I decided to take the old version of this down and rewrite it. It was getting hard to come up with new ideas so I've cut down to 100-word drabble (or as close as I can get, which may sometimes be more like 200). I've actually found it a lot more fun to write this way, so I hope you enjoy it! As before, I'll be working through the first-years from Harry's year and then I'll probably take suggestions for other Sortings. Feel free to leave a review if you have a moment - I don't really write drabble so any advice would be really helpful :)**

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 **1| Abbott, Hannah**

She hates how she blushes when her name is called first. And how she stumbles forward, cutting a path through the others. They lower their eyes, away from her chubby cheeks and the pigtails that bounce around her ears.

If she asked, her mum would always say she looked cute. But the boys at her Muggle school said differently, and they didn't have to be asked.

When the Hat tells her she is brave, she denies it. When it sees that the thing she wants most is to feel true friendship, she fails to hide her shame. And when it places her in Hufflepuff (for her modesty and pure heart), she blushes, stumbles forward, and runs to join her House.

They welcome her with kind eyes, and she quickly forgets the pigtails that bounce around her ears.

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[Word Count: 137]


	2. Bones, Susan

**2| Bones, Susan**

She's forgotten how it feels to be happy. Happiness to her looks like the unfamiliar faces of her parents. It looks like the old school she went to before they both died and her aunt – (the one with the posh Ministry job) – took her away. It looks like innocence. But it feels like nothing at all.

She doesn't think she has the patience for Hufflepuff, nor the compassion, not even when the Hat places her there. Still, she joins the table, bewildered by the strangers who greet her in the way a family would. They look like kindness and love and all the things she can't see in herself.

They feel like something too. She doesn't understand it – not yet, at least - but somewhere in the back of her mind, they feel like remembering.

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[Word Count: 135]


	3. Boot, Terry

**A/N: Terry's blood status was pretty vague wherever I looked - JK originally made him muggleborn but he stayed at Hogwarts during 7th year so must have been a half-blood (at least). I made him pureblood, but hopefully that clears up any possible confusion :) I'm unsure if I like this one, but I don't know why. Let me know what you think.**

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 **3| Boot, Terry**

He knows he's supposed to be just like them. A Slytherin, just the same as the rest of his perfect pureblood family. Ambition is in his blood, they would say. And he would bite back a quick answer – "So is deceit, mother," – just to spare himself the lecture.

Back home, they won't see it coming. They think he's just quiet. They think obedience is what makes him hold his tongue. Truthfully, it's because he's clever.

He smiles as he takes his seat with the Ravenclaws. No, they won't see it coming.

They always thought he would be just like them.

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[Word Count: 100]


	4. Brocklehurst, Mandy

**4| Brocklehurst, Mandy**

She doesn't think much of herself. Her hair is brown – just brown, not chocolate or chestnut or caramel – and her eyes the same, though dark enough to pass as black. Her voice is quiet and unassuming, and she doesn't reckon there's _anything_ particularly brilliant about the person she is.

Faced with the four House tables, she just feels inadequate. She's not sly enough for Slytherin, not brave enough for Gryffindor, not smart enough for Ravenclaw, not even nice enough for Hufflepuff-

Not enough-

Not enough-

Not-

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat roars.

They clap, and she decides she might just be enough to deserve that.

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[Word Count: 103]


	5. Brown, Lavender

**5| Brown, Lavender**

Proud, she holds her head high, and a few people snigger. She doesn't walk, but hops daintily up to the front of the Hall, in time to catch the eyerolls ripple through the sea of students.

They think they know her type. She can just about make it out from their faces – _naïve_ , they're thinking. _Shallow, dim, weak, pathetic-_

The Hat takes longer than they expected. And it surprises them, when it finally speaks, much more than it surprises her.

And then all she can hear is the noise from the Gryffindors, the cheers from faces filled with approval.

She breathes it in, and holds her head up higher.

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[Word Count: 109]


	6. Bulstrode, Millicent

**6| Bulstrode, Millicent**

She teases the others in her head – calls them names, pokes fun. It makes her feel better, somehow. They each stumble up to the Hat ( _pathetic_ , she thinks) and hurry back again ( _idiot_ ), and she just has to watch and wait.

Her hands start to shake, so she imagines their reactions: the tears welling up, the anger rising into unknown faces. She looks down, and her hands are still shaking. But she feels better.

And then it's her name being announced, and they all turn to look, and suddenly the glares she shoots are answered by other eyes-

 _Bully_ , they hiss, and she cowers into the stool just as the Hat cries "SLYTHERIN!". She hurries off; they greet her, looking mean and unapproachable.

Somehow, it makes her feel better.

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[Word Count: 129]


	7. Corner, Michael

**A/N: Inspired by the character Mikey from _The Rest of Us Just Live Here_ by Patrick Ness.**

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 **7| Corner, Michael**

His name is called seventh. A prime number, but not an even one (those have always been the neatest, the tidiest). Still, it's interesting, and he's satisfied.

It takes him six seconds to reach the stool; he pauses a second to make it to another seven. His hands would start twitching otherwise, the way they do when he can't seem to wash them right, or when the books on his shelf sit slightly off-centre.

As the Hat thinks, he counts. When it puts him in Ravenclaw, he earns knowing looks for straightening the bench before he sits down. He doubts that they really understand, but that little piece of acceptance becomes a memory, indestructible and soothing.

When he looks back at it, it takes the form of a number seven.

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[Word Count: 130]


	8. Cornfoot, Stephen

**A/N: I recently wrote a oneshot about the Golden Trio (which drained me of all inspiration, so you can blame it for the long absence) - check it out if you have a minute! That's it for shameless self-promotion, here's Stephen Cornfoot.**

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 **8** **| Cornfoot, Stephen**

His older brother smiles from the Gryffindor table, so distant that it does little to reassure him. They had fought before the train left – no one knew that he didn't want to be in Gryffindor, and perhaps it wasn't the best idea for his brother (his proud, strong, brave brother) to be the first to hear it.

So maybe he understands, but that's the worst thing about it.

It was a proper fight, too, not like those distant days of imaginary swordfights. Words had flown from angry tongues until he ran (him – cowardly, weak) to hide his tears.

But now, his brother smiles, and he smiles back. He is placed in Ravenclaw, but everything is already forgiven. That's all the reassurance he needs.

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[Word Count: 123]


	9. Crabbe, Vincent

**9| Crabbe, Vincent**

All his life, he's been a follower, taught to bow lower and kneel faster to keep the faint taste of power on his lips.

 _Follow or be left behind_ , his father had once said. _Power doesn't wait for stragglers._

And power, from what he's seen, is like chocolate. It's dark and strong and sweet. So sweet that only some can stomach it. Like Draco.

Power comes easily to the Malfoys, or so his father had told him, sourly.

(Following power is dark too, apparently, just with hidden bitterness. Dark chocolate.)

But he's sorted into Slytherin before Draco, before anyone who holds his loyalty, in fact. For once in his life, he isn't following.

He's never tasted anything so sweet.

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[Word Count: 120]


	10. Davis, Tracey

**10| Davis, Tracey**

"Muggle?" the girl in her carriage had asked as the train pulled away from King's Cross. It wasn't unkind, just curious.

"Half-blood."

"You look Muggle."

Tracey didn't say anything to that. She wasn't really sure what it meant.

It was probably something to do with her clothes, she thinks later, just before the Hat puts her in Slytherin. Or maybe her hair.

But when her new House-mates make room at the table, there's a little too much space between her and them.

"Muggle?" one of the older girls asks, sneering. Everyone's wearing school robes now. She figures it must be her hair.

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[Word Count: 102]


	11. Dunbar, Fay

**A/N: This one got a little deep for an eleven-year-old, but I'm in an existential mood. Thanks for reading x**

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 **11| Dunbar, Fay**

Fay has learnt that some people are born to stand out, and that she just isn't one of them.

Even as she's being hugged by the other girl who's been Sorted into Gryffindor – Lavender, wasn't it? – the loudness of the table swallows her whole.

(Fay has already noticed how brightly Lavender shines. No amount of noise would ever dare to swallow her.)

Maybe this is what _she's_ born to be, then. Overlooked; a picture of grey amongst perplexing brightness. Maybe that's okay.

She supposes it make sense that she's in Gryffindor. It takes a world of bravery to let yourself be forgotten.

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[Word Count: 101]


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